Drought in Tippah County, MS: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Tippah County, MS: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 39
2. 6
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 9
8. 32
9. 0
10. 0
11. 5
12. 5
13. 15
14. 0
15. 1
16. 0
17. 13
18. 15
19. 2
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 11
24. 12
25. 6
26. 1

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (39 wk), 2007 (32 wk), 2012 (15 wk), 2016 (13 wk) and 2017 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

A regular lawn is fine here; plan for the odd dry year

Real droughts are rare here. A smart controller that skips watering after rain covers the odd dry year.

You can keep a regular lawn. Worth doing: a rain-sensing or smart controller, and deeper, less frequent watering if Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of MS

79th most drought-prone of 82 MS counties; the MS middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Smith County (1.9 in 10) and Simpson County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MS: Tallahatchie County (4.2 in 10). Least drought: Benton County (1.5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Sep (20% of weeks), then Aug (19%) and Oct (19%). Least in May (8%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 17 Jan
2. 9 Feb
3. 12 Mar
4. 10 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 19 Aug
9. 20 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 19 Nov
12. 13 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 39 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.6% at D2, 2.6% at D3, 4 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 32 weeks, Mar 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2017, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 19 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Tippah County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2000, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Tippah County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.